Affordable Home Security can be yours with an IP Camera. It’s cheap peace of mind, a cool gadget, and easy to install diy home tech!
This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!
Every now and then I see something and get a thought like – “Why don’t I have one of those…” or “that is so worth the money…”. It’s funny because as a kid I used to thumb through the cool new techie gadgets in popular science that were still years away and only in reach of those with a 6-figure salary. Now I see stuff online, or in a gadget magazine or tech catalog and I say “it’s about time they made that…” – and the prices aren’ t bad either!
Today my realization was that you can get an affordable IP camera! What is an IP camera you ask? It’s a camera that you can hookup to your network at your home or business and get live motion video. This would mainly used for surveillance as a security cam, but the “IP” in “IP camera” means you can access it via the Internet. You connect it to your network either wired or wireless (depending on the camera).
Intellinet Network Ip Camera, 550710
First I want to talk to you about the Intellinet IP Camera. It cost about $300 which is a bit high for an IP Camera, but it’s because of what it can do. This particular IP Camera has an embedded Linux operating system, flash memory, will email you “on-event”, and can stream (or upload via ftp) live motion video to a web site or PC. Once you set this up with a static IP – you can watch live motion video just by typing in the IP address in a web browser – no software of any kind required! Read the specs on that to find out the video quality, size of the flash memory, etc. I didn’t get much out of that page itself, so I moved on to other models…
Wireless G Network Security IP Camera Webcam AIC250W
This model of IP Security Webcam is Wireless! It’s VGA quality and you can view it over the web too, but the cool thing about this one is the fact that you can view up to 16 of these suckers at once (on one screen). Now that’s what I call affordable in-home security since each one is under $100!
Sony SNC-M3W Pan/Tilt IP Wireless Network Camera w/Audio
Sony has a nice Wireless Network IP Camera that looks pretty durable. You’ll pay a bit more for this one, but #1 it’s “Sony” and #2 it’s the first IP camera I’ve seen that captures audio. In addition to that – this Sony IP camera does pan and tilt (the first one’s don’t do that either). To use all of the features (like pan and zoom) you’ll need to install the Sony software to get everything to work.
SMC 802.11G Wireless IP Camera Pan
The SMC Wireless IP Camera does all the Sony model does, including record video and audio in MPEG 4. You can of course control the camera from a remote location (which does pan and zoom) and it also has motion detection. This Wireless IP Cam seems to be a good bet since it’s priced about $160 less than the Sony (currently).
Pan & Tilt IP Network Camera IR Night Vision, Video, Audio, Color, digital Zoom
This IP Network Camera is unique because in addition to the pan and tilt features, it has a color pictures, digital zoom, audio capture – but wait…..(drum roll) – it has NIGHT VISION!
Honestly – IP Camera’s have so many features that you have to figure out what you want to get out of it, and how much you want to spend. You might not need Pan and Tilt, so you might be able to get away with as $100 bargain IP camera. Then again, one that can be chained with many others in a multi-view display or the night vision could be what you need. In any event – do you homework before you buy. I should probably remind you that you can find a ton of great IP camera deals in auctions, check some ending soonest below!
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